(Image: Wire Baskets by Ellen Wieske)
(Augusta, ME) The Maine Arts Commission today announced that the agency will award 33 grants to organizations and individual artists across the state. The awards total $116,555, encompass all artistic disciplines and support projects throughout the state.
More than one third of those grants awards are for projects at nonprofit organizations in communities throughout Maine. These organizations are engaging the public with works of art through exhibitions, tours, and festivals; preserving Maine’s valuable traditions; furthering lifelong learning in the arts in schools, communities, or enhancing community livability through the arts.
The remaining grants are made to individual Maine artists and include the prestigious 2013 Artists’ Fellowship Awards – one of the nation's highest awards for individual artists made by a state arts agency. The five recipients will each receive a $13,000 grant award. This year an additional Fellowship has been added thanks to the generous support of the Maine Community Foundation and the Belvedere Fund.
“We are so pleased to be able to add a fellowship for craft arts this year,” said Maine Arts Commission Executive Director Julie Richard. “It is so rewarding when an organization such as the Maine Community Foundation works with us to support Maine’s rich array of artists. We are especially pleased to announce Ellen Wieske as the first recipient of this award. She is a person who has devoted so much of her life to practicing and teaching craft art in Maine.”
Ellen Wieske is the Maine Arts Commission’s 2013 Inaugural Functional Craft Fellow. She is a working metalsmith who maintains a studio/gallery on Deer Isle. She has been a teacher for more than 20 years and is the assistant director of the Haystack School of Craft.
“It is an incredible gift and honor to receive the Maine Arts Commission Functional Crafts Fellowship,” said Wieske upon receiving the news. “This award makes me feel like someone who believes in me is standing close behind me. I feel raised up and poised to reach out to take on the next project. Thank you for this amazing opportunity. “
The other recipients of the Individual Artist Fellowship for 2013 are Jessica Anthony from Portland (Literary Arts), Cecily Pingree from North Haven Island (Media and Performing Arts), Anna Hepler, from Eastport (Visual Arts), and Bill Mackowski, from Milford (Traditional Arts).
Earlier this year the Maine Arts Commission received a total of 291 eligible applications for six grant programs requesting approximately $3 million in funding. The Fellowship program accounted for 195 of those applications. When those numbers are removed from the equation, the Maine Arts Commission was able to fund 40 percent of applications that sought support for significant community and educational programs throughout Maine.
Examples of projects funded through the agency’s various programs are:
The Western Maine Land Trust received $1,500 through the Celebrating Traditional Arts program to support a festival that honors the long standing tradition of snowshoe making in Norway, Maine. It will include an exhibit of snowshoes, lectures and a weeklong master class on snowshoe making by Traditional Arts Master Brian Theriault.
George Neptune, a Passamaquoddy basketmaker from Princeton, received $4,000 through the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program. As a Traditional Arts Master he will help preserve vital Tribal culture by teaching apprentice Emma Soctomoh how to make ash fancy baskets. During her year-long apprenticeship, Emma will learn every detail of making intricate decorative baskets that are woven with brown ash splints and sweetgrass.
Camden International Film Festival received $1,500 through the Arts Visibility Grant to increase audiences through a number of interactive media initiatives including an upgrade to their website and a mobile phone application. A recent report showed that approximately 6,000 people attended last year’s festival and generated over $2 million in revenue within the region. Half of those visitors came from outside of Maine.
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens received $500 through the Community Arts and Humanities Grant to support a two-month display of work by Rachel Carson. This work celebrates bird and plant interactions in Maine and includes bird photography, painting and sculpture.
Frederick Greenhalgh, from Alfred, received $1,500 through the Good Idea Grant in order to produce The Cleansed: Season 2, an epic adventure told through the nearly forgotten medium of radio drama. The work will be made available through a podcast to the estimated 80 million listeners who download and enjoy works like this all across America each year.
The Maine Arts Commission convenes outside experts into groups in order to review grant applications. These groups balance the professional perspectives on a given field and represent diversity in geography, gender and ethnic background. Panelists review all materials including work samples and convene in Augusta to score each application. The panels’ recommendations are considered by Maine Arts Commission members and its chairman before final approval.
A full listing of all recent grants is available by clicking here.
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